Lamp holder



G. H. BURT LAMP HOLDER April 26, 1949.

2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 8, 1945 INVENTOR. 1" Y BURT A TTOQNEY April 26, 1949. H, BUR-r 2,468,481

LAMP HOLDER Filed Nov. 8, 1945 2 Shets-Sheet 2 v INVENTOR. Guy Bu??- 4 OPNEY Patented Apr. 26, 1949 LAMP HOLDER.

Guy H. Burt, Edgewood, R. I., assignor to Harry M. Burt and Guy H. Burt, doing business as The Lloyd Products Company,

Providence, R. I.

Application November 8, 1945, Serial No. 627,367

7 Claims.

This invention relates to lamp holders. More particularly, it pertains to lamp holders which are adapted to individually support and supply power to the ends of an electric illuminating device such as an elongated fluorescent lamp by coaction with the projecting contact pins on the ends thereof.

The lamp holder is characterized by its free pivotal movement towards and away from an end of the electric lamp and by the presence of a mechanism for urging the lamp holder into coupling engagement with the projecting contact pins, and, in these respects, it is patterned upon the lamp holder shown and described in copending application, Serial No. 469,227, filed on December 16, 1942, by Charles E. Dansereau, now Patent No. 2,403,968, dated July 16, 1946, both the instant application and said copending application being owned by the same assignee.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described which is a general improvement over the aforementioned lamp holder and is simpler both to construct and operate.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described which is more readily flexed .by a lamp upon insertion thereof and is more easily assembled than the lamp holder described in the aforesaid patent application, and which, when mounted in back-to-back relationship with a similar lamp holder, can be placed closer thereto than could the lamp holder of said co-pending application.

It is another object of the invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described which is so constructed that it can be easily manipulated to release a lamp, although of pleasing appearance and not projecting below the lamp where it could he accidentally struck.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lamp holder of the character described which is capable of either flush or surface 7 mounting.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists of the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which are shown various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of two pairs of lamp holders embodying the invention, flush mounted on a support and cooperatively holding two fluorescent electric discharge lamps in aligned end-to-end or tandem relationship;

Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view through two adjacent lamp holders mounted on a support in back-to-back relationship;

Figs. 3 and 4 are front and rear views of one of the lamp holders shown in Fig. 2, these views being taken substantially along the lines 3-3 and 4-4 respectively of Fig.2;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view in partial section of a pair of back-to-back lamp holders, in one of which an end of a fluorescent lamp is disposed;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional View taken substantially along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the lamp holders shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the mounting plate employed with this lamp holder;

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 are fragmentary perspective views showing the manner in which a fluorescent lamp is coupled with a lamp holder embodying the invention;

Fig. 13 is a side elevational view in partial section of the lamp holder shown in Fig. 12 as it apmore particularly to Figs. 1-11, Ill,

pears when surface mounted; and

Fig. 14. is a sectional view taken substantially along the line M-M of Fig. 13.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and I2 denote a pair of conventional fluorescent electric discharge lamps mounted by means of two pairs of lamp holders l4, l6, I8, 20 on a suitable support 22 which, by way of example, comprises a housing for the ballast and wiring, not shown, customarily associated with lamps of this nature. The lamps are of the incandescent filament type and each has a pair of projecting contact pins 24 (Fig. '7) at both ends thereof which, as is usual in the lighting field, are adapted to be coupled with the lamp holders l4-20 to provide both electric power and physical support for the lamp.

All the lamp holders are of the same construction and the lamp holder IE will be described in detail by way of example. This lamp holder basically includes four essential elements, to wit, a body 26, a mounting plate 28 adapted to be $6- cured firmly to the support 22 and pivotally secured to the body 26, means 30 for resiliently urging the body into coupling engagement with the contact pins 24, and means 32 to efiect a detachable electric connection between said pins and a source of power.

It will be appreciated as the description proceeds that the instant invention is primarily concerned with-the construction ofthe-rbody, ofthe mounting plate, and of. an end ofthe resilient-:- means so, so that, although an electric connecting means 32 and the remainder of the ref-- silient means 39 are necessary to the proper operation of the lamp holder, the specific construe"- tion thereof forms no part of.the presentinvention and is hereinafter describedvin detail-ionly;

by way of example.

The body 26, which is preferably moulded .from.

a plastic electrically non-conductive material, comprises a pedestal 34 and an elongated. intetgral standard 36. The front of the standard, i.- e.,. the surface facing the lamp; is generally level and unbroken. However,. said, surfacev is pierced adjacentthe pedestal bya throughltransverse slot 38. which is centrally-located.- at the: base of the standardand is. adaptedto pivotally. engage aportion of the mounting plate-28. At the lamp receiving end. ofthe pedestal. a pair. of through transverse apertures 40-. are'provided, the. same beingdesignedto freely-pass-the lamp contact pins-24.

In addition, two grooves llare. formed inthefront of the standard. These groovesextend from the. free-end of the. standard up to. the apertures 40. and serve to guide the pinsinto theaperturea upon .insertion of. a. lamp. The. bases of said.

grooves lessen gradually in depth from the edge. of. the standard to, the apertures so as: to cam the socket outwardly whenthetipsof thepins.v

pressragains the. bottoms of. the. grooves .upon insertion of a lamp.

Pursuant to the invention, the free end 44 of the front face of the lamp holder slopes away from the lamp beginning at apoint' between the apertures st and. the tip of thestandard:

Aswill'be pointed out hereinafter, this con-. struction of the standard permits an end'off'the lampto engage alamp. holder and cam the same outwardly. to a position in which the grooves 42. are positioned to permit entry ofthe contact pins 24.

Further, pursuant to the invention, aprojection or finger 46 depends from the tip of the standard, the same being set back from thefront of the standard. This'finger'is muchthinner than the main portion of the standard, and the base of. the finger" runs smoothly'into" the sloped front surface 44 .of thefree en'd'of the standard. By virtue of such arrangement, thefront surface of the fingerflfi' is spaced'from the. end E of a lamp mounted in the lamp holden, as shown in Fig. 5. The width of the finger is. less than the spacing between the apertures 40 inorder to'permit bothcontactipins'2'4 to'clear: tlie sa'rne duringinsertion of a lamp: In"adi'litionthe tip' ofthe fingerisrounded-toward sides, as seen in Fig; 3"; so "as"tocam".'the con-- tact pins and lamp to proper position, if not" placed there initially.

The front of the pedestalha-s a deep-central vertical groove 53' provided therein: to-facilitate attachment of the mounting plate 28 to' the 'sup port'ZZ.

A marginal'ledge 58- at the rear-f the lamp holder, and extending around all but: the top" edge thereof, definesaseat-which receives a backcoverplate '52 (Fig; 4-) of an electrically non"- .=.restlient. electrically conductive sheet held in position by drive screws 54 threaded into bores 56 (Fig. 2) opening at the rear face of the lamp holder. Said rear face is also provided with a pair of longitudinally extending elongated spaced recesses 58 adjacent the lateral portions of the ledge 50 to accommodate the meansflzfor supplying-electric power to 8.13.1111); These recesses run'intovapair'of forwardly extending recesses 58 at the top of the pedestal.

Any, suitable means may be employed for supplying electric power to the lamp and, by way oftexample saidmeans as illustrated herein comprises-contactseach of which is formed from conductive metallic sheet stock and includes a. base 60 which is received in one of the forwardly extending recesses. Said basecis-tapped to receive a binding screw 6| A contact shank 62, which extends integrally away from-the contact base at right anglessthereto, comprises.- a. pair. of abutted wall portions. .joi-ned. byv a. central fold. .Each wallportion has an. extension I54 terminating .at an. inwardly concave. pin-engaging. blade err-tip, 66. Thecontacts are: so-formed=that their tips normally either touchor are spaced apart a distance lessthan the; diameter of a .lampcontactpin .whereby, the :extensions 64 urge saidtips.intogoodlfrictionalengagementwith allamp pin. The extensions are.

spaced apart and'- engage. opposite. walls; of the;

elongatedrecesses 58 at than. the contact. shanks points. nearer the pins.

thereof, engageslot 38' and serves to. house the means 3'0" for resi'liently'urging the body into coupling engagement with the contact pins;

The mounting plate heavy gaugeisheet'ste'el, and includes a fiat body portion 70 slightly wider'than the standard, and

a flat tongue 12" which extends. freely. through the slotfifi'and' into "the recess 682 Said tongue is'approximatlir coplanar: with the bodyportion,. hutmay slope slightly downwardly therefrom... order to allow the fronts 'of. be inclined slightly toward as seen in-Fig. 2; in" he lamp holders to each other when idle. This enables the lamp holders to assume an' approximately'verti'cal position" when a lamp is mounted therein (see 'Fig. 5)

The foregoing result also depends upon the; shape of the slot 38which inthe present case is shown as beingsubstantially normal to the face of the lampholder standard.

A large downwardly extending nib it is formed at the tip of the *tongue for coactionwith the means to" resiliently-urge the body into coupling" engagement with the contact pins.

It'-"may'-be-observedthat the-slot 38 is downwardly enlarged i: at the free passage ofsaid nib lamp holder. provided withapair of"lateralfi'at arms 'lfiwhich embracethe standard on both sides thereof adja'c'ent the pedestal '34;

during" assembly of the A threaded aperture 18- istapped through the body portion of-the plate to afford" means for firmly attaching" said plate'to the support; .22. Such attachment may be effected by a screwfifi.

By thus limiting. outward flexion of the relatively. long extensions.

pins is materially,

ated the. lamp recess 68' has its upper end. terminate. atthe rearv of the.

28is composed of a rigid sheet of any form1-maintaining material, e. g...

center thereof to permit- The-"mounting plate may also be" Alternatively the head of the attaching screw 80 may be disposed on the upper side of the mounting plate and its shank threaded into a tapped aperture in the support, and it is for such modified attachment that the groove 34 is provided in the pedestal.

It will be observed that the mounting plate lies on the upper surface of the support 22 in order to conceal said plate; however, it is within the scope of the invention to place the plate on the lower surface of the support, if desired, and to this end to space the slot away from the pedestal a distance at least equal to the thickness of the thickest support likely to be employed in the field.

In order to locate the fulcrum about which rocking takes place in approximately the plane of the base of the central pins, so that a minimum bending stress is applied to the pins during insertion or removal of a lamp, the overhangingportion of the bottom face 82 of the pedestal is undercut, as by sloping it away from the mount ing plate 28; the extent of the undercut also serves to limit rocking movement of the lamp holder away from the lamp. The undercut terminates Where the pedestal merges into the standard thereby positioning the rocking fulcrum at the front end of the slot 38 and, more specifically, as will be soon appreciated, at the upper edge of the slot, i. e., the edge furthest from the standard.

The means 30 for resiliently urging the body into coupling engagement with the contact pins comprises a spring 84 housed in the recess 68 and held under compression between the bottom of said depression and the under surface of the tongue 12. This spring may be of any suitable construction, a helical spiral spring being illustrated by way of example. Pursuant to a feature of my invention the end of the spring which rests against the tongue is apertured to receive snugly the nib 14. Where this construction is employed the spring additionally serves to captively secure the plate 28 to the lamp holder body.

According to another feature of my invention, the upper part 85 of the rear face of the lamp holder (above the slot 38) converges upwardly toward the front face of the lamp holder, and the lower part of the rear face (below the slot 38) converges downwardly towards the front face. The purpose of this opposite convergence is to enable the lamp holders to be placed in extremely close, back-to-back relationship for tandem mounting without interfering with insertion or removal of a lamp.

The lamp holders are employed as follows: They are conventionally flush mounted by slipping the standard through a hole in the housing and fastening the mounting plate with the screw 80. Back-toback mounted lamp holders inserted in the same hole have the high regions of the backwhere the oppositely sloping parts meet--- brought into almost contacting relationship. The

slope of the upper parts is such that at this time" the upper parts of adjacent empty lamp holders l are vertical and, therefore, almost in abutment (see Fig. 2).

A lamp is inserted in the lamp holders by align ing the lamp ends with the lamp holders, andthen pushing the lamp upwardly. If the. pairs'of contact pins are not horizontally aligned. the'f guiding finger 46 off,

upper pin will strike the center and rotate the lamp into proper position".

wherein the two pins at each end of the lamp will straddle said finger as illustrated in Fig. 9..

Depending upon the construction of the lamp,

ends, at" or'before the time the pins straddle the tapped aperture 6. finger the ends of the lamp engage the sloping surfaces 44 at the tips of the standards. Upward movement of the lamp cams the lamp holders outwardly against the pressure exerted by the springs 84 until a position is reached at which the pins enter the grooves 42. Continued upward movement of the lamp causes the pins to swing the lamp holders further outwardly until the pins reach a point just short of the apertures 40, as shown in Fig. 10. The slope of the lower parts of the rear face is such that at this time the rear faces of adjacent lamp holders will be approximately parallel and almost in abutment if the other lamp holder of the back-to-back pair has a lamp mounted therein.

Further upward movement of the lamp causes the pins to become aligned with the apertures 40, allowing the lamp holders to snap inwardly under the pressure of the springs 84 and thus automatically secure the lamp in place. This mounted position of the lamp is shown in Fig. 11.

If desired the foregoing procedure may be modified by axially moving the pins at one end of a lamp into the apertures of a lamp holder and thenpressing upwardly the opposite end of the lamp to cause the associated lamp holder to flex outwardly until the pins reach the apertures 40.

It is pointed out that in mounted position of the lamp the finger 46 does not project below the holder on the surface of a housing rather than illustrated in the preceding figures, and accordingly, I have proflush therewith in the manner vided a lamp holder embodying the present invention but modified to be capable of such alternative mounting. This modified lamp holder,

\ denoted by the numeral in Figs. 12-14, is shown 92 having an angle in conjunction with a housing iron 94 on whose horizontal flange 96 the lamp holder 90 is to be mounted. A covering plate 98 optionally may be employed to conceal the lamp holder pedestal. Said lamp holder is, in all respects save one, identical with the lamp holders I420, the difference residing in an additional element on the mounting plate to permit surface mounting without interfering with the piv- --otal movement of the lamp body relative to the Said additional element comprises a' housing. centrally disposed erect extension I00 integrally projecting :from plate.

provided Iwitha tapped aperture N14. The lamp holder is secured IDS; freely passing through an aperture H15 in said angle iron and threadedly engaging the in the horizontal leg of the mounting. plate. It will be obvious that a surface mounted lamp :holder functions in the same mannenas' a'fiu'sh mounted lamp holder upon insertion and removal of a lamp.

.. It will thus be seen that there is provided a. lamp. holder which. achieves the several objects I of'lthe invention, and which is well adapted to.

meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be ,made of the...above invention, and as various changes mightbe made in the embodiment above the rear edge of the mounting The projection terminates at its upperend above the pedestal in a horizontal leg I02 to :the angle iron 94 by a screw interconnecting the base of the finger and the of on which the lamp is disposed, and a tongue front face of the body between the pin receivintegral with said mounting means and extending apertures. ing above the end of the body remote from the 7. A lamp holder of the character described lamp, said tongue terminating in a mounting for mounting on a support member a, lamp havelement adapted to be rigidly secured to the suping at least one contact pin at each end thereof, port member.

said lamp holder comprising a body having at GUY H. BURT. least one transverse aperture to receive a pin at one end of the lamp, said aperture extending in- REFERENCES CITED Wardly of the body from the from? $3478 thereof 10 The following references are of record in the an electrical contact carried by said body and me of this patent; disposed so as to detachably engage a pin in said aperture, means to mount said body for UNITED STATES PATENTS movement toward and away from the lamp, Number Name Date means to resiliently bias said body toward said 1,169,314 Zannoth et al Jan. 25, 1916 lamp, the pin receiving aperture being remote 2,349,255 Epstein May 23, 1944 from the mounting means and on the side there- 2,403,963 Dansereau Jul 16, 9 

